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The US Secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll, emerged as an surprising diplomat for the Trump administration newest proposal to end the conflict in Ukraine. Driscoll's strong relationship with JD Vance has placed a key ally of the Eurosceptic VP at the forefront of Donald Trump recent effort to settle the conflict.

Before his last week's trip to Kyiv, Driscoll was unrecognized as a negotiator or statesman, and his initial attempts to sell the deal to European policymakers were described as turbulent.

His close ties with Vance, who he studied and shares a personal bond, signal the rising influence of the isolationist VP in talks to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

Vance's Involvement in Ceasefire Efforts

It was Vance who stepped in during Volodymyr Zelenskyy disastrous first trip to the White House in March and demanded he show Trump more courtesy. Now, Ukraine is again pushing back against pressure from the US to accept a quick settlement that local officials have called a surrender.

Following a chaotic initial year in power, international actions in the White House are reportedly shaped by a small group of Trump's key advisers, such as top aide Susie Wiles, rightwing advisor Stephen Miller, diplomat Steve Witkoff, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and finally Vance.

Vance has been a outspoken advocate of the latest proposal, which was developed by Witkoff and Trump's relative Jared Kushner, together with the Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev.

“Every criticism of the peace framework the administration is developing either misunderstands the framework or misrepresents some key reality on the ground,” Vance wrote.

Early Efforts and European Responses

Vance's early efforts at hammering out a ceasefire agreement with Russia, while also attempting to restore ties with Moscow, were unsuccessful and left his camp feeling frustrated with their Russian interlocutors. Leaders in Europe, meanwhile, were angered by his early remarks, in which he accused them of running from their voters, who Vance claimed held anti-immigration and conservative positions close to those of Trump's own constituency.

However, the new peace deal mirrored his stances, and he has been one of the most forceful spokespeople for the agreement in the government, even as the US has been under fire for accepting a ceasefire plan that mostly resembles Vladimir Putin's maximalist terms.

In posts this past weekend, Vance asserted that a peace deal would have to establish a ceasefire that respected Ukrainian sovereignty, be agreeable to both sides, and stop the war from restarting.

“A ceasefire won’t be made by failed diplomats or officials residing in a fantasy land,” he added. “It might be made by smart people operating in the real world.”

It was Vance who followed up on the presentation of the peace plan in a conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump had mainly tasked his staff with obtaining a agreement on the ceasefire accord before Thanksgiving this Thursday in the United States.

The Secretary of State's Response and Private Doubts

Vance's stance was a notably more full-throated endorsement of the plan than that given by the top diplomat and security advisor, Marco Rubio, a more conventional hardliner in the administration who has transitioned from a uncertain stature inside the White House to more stable standing.

Rubio was part of a US team that traveled to Geneva this past weekend to confer with Ukrainian leaders to help moderate the initial 28-point peace plan in order to make it more palatable to leaders in Kyiv.

However, his initial response to the deal was tepid:

“Ending a complicated and deadly conflict such as the one in Ukraine requires an thorough exchange of substantive and pragmatic ideas,” Rubio stated over the weekend. “Furthermore, securing a durable ceasefire will require each party to consent to difficult but essential compromises. This is the reason we are and will continue to develop a list of potential solutions for ending this conflict based on feedback from each party of this conflict.”

Behind closed doors, he was said to be much more doubtful of the proposal. The GOP lawmaker Mike Rounds stated recently at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia that Rubio had called lawmakers to explain that the agreement was merely a initial offer from the Russians and not an plan pushed by the White House.

“The Secretary did make a call to us this afternoon and I believe he made it very clear to us that we are the recipients of a proposal that was presented to one of our representatives,” said Rounds. “It is not our recommendation, it is not our peace plan.”

Rubio moved quickly to align himself. “This ceasefire plan was written by the US,” he later wrote. “It is offered as a strong framework for ongoing negotiations. The proposal is derived from feedback from the Russian side. But, it is additionally based on previous and ongoing input from Ukraine.”